2024 Year-In-Review Part 1
16Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious conerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken. 17I will test you with the measuring line of justice and the plumb line of righteousness.” (Isaiah 28:16-17)
Blessed Saturday to you all. I hope you had a joyful Christmas celebration with family and friends. It has been a busy two weeks for me, which is why I have not had time to put anything together for this site. But starting today, I wanted to sit down and highlight some of the good that has come out of this pivotal year as we march boldly into 2025. Though plucking out the good for all that is happening around the world does not seem appropriate with all the turmoil ongoing globally, I do want these next few posts to try to continue lifting up your spirits as I was attempting to do with those few pre-Christmas writings. So today, I want to start with a look at my local circle for Part One of my review of 2024.
I live just south of the historic city of Savannah, GA, but for the most part, we claim Savannah as home. If you have never been to the “Hostess City of the South”, as I have mentioned many times on this platform, you must visit this precious city. Founded way back in 1733 as the southernmost colony, Savannah has gone through extensive restoration to hold onto her history. The historic downtown district is “one of the most unique and well-preserved sites in the US“. Savannah was “the first planned city” and her iconic squares dot the historic area with beautiful green space and ghostly Spanish moss dripping from massive live oaks older than America. Watching our local news highlights from 2024 did not help find any positive stories from the year. Crime continued to be the focus of the biggest stories from the year, but as a Savannah Police Officer, I can personally say that crime has indeed been down for the year. With only one week left for reporting statistics, 2024’s violent crime in Savannah is down 21% from 2023. Savannah’s population grew at a slow rate of only 1.18% for an estimated total of 343,000 residents in the Savannah Metro area. Slow growth is a much-appreciated thing for most of us “Slowvannians”, as the already congested roadways will continue to get worse with more residents on the roadways. However, the growth of apartment and condominiums in the Lowcountry would lead you to believe that Savannah’s population is growing at a much faster rate. Savannah made real-estate news as one of the few markets to increase the number of rental units available, while continuing to see increased rental costs, which padded the pockets of realty investors while continuing to strain the renter-market. Savannah’s tourism industry continues to be strong, and while official numbers for the year are a few months away, many key events led to an increase in travelers to our beloved, historic gem. Most notably was the 200th running of Savannah’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. With the parade landing on a Saturday, which had not happened since 2019, the city saw a historically large crowd enjoying the special occasion. Savannah’s newest event venue, the EnMarket Arena, continues to grab new artists to the area (most notably for us was Brandon Lake, who steered his tour to our area for the first time ever). The EnMarket Arena is also home to Savannah’s first hockey team, the Ghost Pirates, which has quickly garnered a fanatical following. But, as far as sports go, nothing compares to the popularity of the Savannah Bananas. The Bananas launched another World Tour in 2024, and for the first time ever, took “Bananaland” to sea, with a Norwegian Cruise Line to the Bahamas. Playing exclusively “Banana Ball“, the Banana franchise added a third team to the local roster, The Firefighters. The 2024 World Tour took the Bananas to 25 cities across the United States, selling out every major league stadium. Tickets in their home city continue to be scarce, but we were lucky to be able to attend one game this year between the Firefighters and The Party Animals. While the zaniness of Banana Ball may fizzle out at some point, for the time being, the Bananas continue to be the greatest show in the south. The schedule for 2025 is currently out and you can check where they are headed by clicking here. If you are in, or near, one of these locations, this is not your typical baseball game. They are a lot of fun and highly entertaining the first few times you see all their crazy antics.
So how does all of this fit into our Biblical living? Well, I will get to that once we look at the 2024 World Review on the 1st. For tomorrow, we’ll look at how the United States spent 2024. Until then, enjoy some musical recaps from the year.
Christian Contemporary and Worship Music just keeps getting better and better. Every year I write this, and so far, CCM keeps proving me wrong, but it is going to be hard to top the level of music that came out of this industry next year. I will start with my favorites by highlighting some of the greatest worship albums released in 2024. Bethel Music released a short, but powerful EP featuring seven epic worship tracks. Even Though I Walk was my favorite song from that set. 7 Hills Worship also dropped a worship EP this year with nine wonderful songs praising God. Water & Bone topped my list from that collection. But my favorite worship album came from my favorite worship group: Elevation. Elevation Worship has dropped full-length annual worship albums for the last eight years and 2024’s When Wind Meets Fire featured 14 instant worship classics. The album was so good that it is hard to pick a favorite to share, so I’ll just give you the title track, which is a perfect sampling of the powerful lyrics and vocals this team continues to gift the world with. Enjoy and be blessed.
Common Sense Reborn 